The comparison of OCT findings and retinal artery diameter in good and poor prognosis RAO patients

Purpose To determine the different clinical findings between good and poor prognosis group which is diagnosed with branch retinal artery obstruction(BRAO) and treated with conservative care. We evaluate the average macular thickness, foveal thickness, outer nuclear layer(ONL) on optical coherence tomography(OCT) and retinal artery diameter in both groups. Methods 9 eyes(9 patients) in patients with non-complicated BRAO with good prognosis and a poor prognosis control group with non-complicated BRAO of 11 eyes(11 patients) were used in this study. The average macular thickness, foveal thickness and ONL thickness at the center of fovea on OCT were measured. And branch retinal artery widths were measured by a semi-automated retinal vessel width measurement system retrospectively. Results The average age of the patients was 67.3 ± 11.5 years. The average ONL thickness at the central fovea of the good prognosis group was significantly thicker than that of the control group (p = 0.016). There were no statistically significant result at average macular thickness and foveal thickness. In good prognosis group, Ischemic retinal artery diameter and Central retinal artery equivalent(CRAE) were wider than those of poor prognosis group and they were statistically significant (p = 0.028, p = 0.01). Conclusion In the patients diagnosed with BRAO and treated with conservative care, foveal thickness, ischemic retinal artery diameter and CRAE were statistically significant between good and poor prognosis groups. In the patients diagnosed with BRAO, foveal thickness and retinal artery diameter could be prognostic factors that predict visual prognosis.